The warmer weather brings out the home buyers in droves, especially with the market moving as quickly as it is this year, but despite that fact many would-be home sellers are still sleeping away what could be the peak home selling period of the year.

Agents with their finger on the pulse know you’ve got to be ready early or risk having to scramble later when the market may have moved on. In order to catch those early buyers it’s important to have your home ready to list before Summer time arrives. We’ve put together some tips to get you started on the right track:

Find An Experienced Agent
Of course we recommend this! But it’s not a biased opinion just because it’s our industry, it’s a known fact that working with a REALTOR® will save you time and frustration all throughout the buying and selling process. A qualified real estate agent will not only know the market, but they will also be able to help you avoid potential pitfalls along the way that you alone may not have been able to foresee.

Put Out Some Feelers
Your agent will handle the marketing when the time comes, but in the meantime it doesn’t hurt to reach out to those around you and let them know a little early on that you may be looking to make a move. Mention it to friends or family off hand at coffee or dinner not only just to get it in your own mind as a real event but also to have the help of your personal sphere working towards your success.

De-Clutter and Clean
It’s never too early to have less stuff. Even if you’re not selling de-cluttering will make your life 100% better where you’re at right now. You want your home to look it’s best for potential buyers too of course and the best way to do that is to have things clean and free of clutter. Throw out old broken things that you don’t need anymore, and have a yard sale or donate items that are still useful but for which you have no need. Give the runners and cabinet tops a wipe down, clean carpets, and take care of all the deep cleaning tasks that may have been getting away from you.

Repairs
More than curb appeal or trying to do any upgrades to the home spend some time and take care of repairs first. Whether it’s a leaky faucet or a leaky roof any kind of repairs can delay or even completely jeopardize your home sale, so it’s important to tackle those items as soon as possible. It’s a great time to have the HVAC systems in your home serviced by a professional as well; it can even be any extra point in your favor to be able to tell potential buyers it’s all been taken care of in advance.

Don’t worry if you’re off to a late start, the groundhog says we have a few more weeks til Spring and you can catch up with many of these suggestions fairly quickly. Be sure to talk to your real estate agent if you get bogged down, or don’t even know where to start, many times they will be able to recommend solutions and services that can help.